20 Articles belonging to the Evenk, an indigenous group who had occupied the area prior to the appearance of the Buryat. The archaeologists had exposed numerous burials, many with rich grave offerings such as beads and pendants made of nephrite, stone arrowheads, and bone needles. There were also petroglyph sites in the area, and with Olga as our guide, we visited a few of them. Our hosts provided us with an interpreter, Svetlana Matveeva, so as to facilitate the American students’ participation in the camp activities. Activities such as morning calisthenics, classes in archaeology and ecology, nature hikes, sports and talent contests, and swimming excursions filled our days. The members of the Expedition ate their fill of fresh fish, hiked innumerable miles, and turned brown in the Siberian sun. All agreed that our two weeks in camp passed far too quickly. Returning from Baikal, our final day in Irkutsk was a busy one. There were last minute shopping excursions, as most Expedition members had been too busy to shop <strong>for</strong> gifts and souvenirs. We also attended the reception at the History Museum <strong>for</strong> the ort Ross photographic exhibition, entitled “ort Ross: ar and Near.” The exhibition, which I had assembled and carried to Irkutsk, consisted of a collection of 75 photographs by more than a dozen photographers documenting and celebrating contemporary life in and around ort Ross. inally, there was the farewell dinner, with the American and Russians assembling in a cavernous room in the museum’s basement <strong>for</strong> a virtual feast of Russian foods and good cheer. Early the next morning, the Expedition crawled back upon the TSR <strong>for</strong> the long journey eastward. The train departed Irkutsk shortly after 5 a.m., and again dozens of our Russian friends crowded the plat<strong>for</strong>m to say goodbye. The train did not leave the station on time. or what seemed like eternity, we sat there motionless. The Russians stood silently on the plat<strong>for</strong>m below, their tears and saddened expressions telling us the sadness they felt <strong>for</strong> our departure. The Expedition members were now entombed behind the train’s glass windows, and could only watch in silence. inally, with an unexpected lurch, the train pulled out of the station, and the city slowly disappeared behind us. As Irkutsk and our new friends faded from our view, we knew that they would never fade from our hearts. Ours was a global village now, filled with unimaginable potentialities. The three days of travel back to Khabarovsk allowed us ample time to reflect on our journey. There was lots of time to write in our journals. or the most part, we were quieter than we had been on the westbound trip. Of course, we were retracing our steps, so there was not as much enthusiasm and excitement <strong>for</strong> the sights outside our windows. The weather was not as cooperative, either. It rained the first two days of our travel, and then the suffocating smoke of a large wildfire one day from Khabarovsk replaced the rain. The smoke stayed with us all the way to the city. We departed the airport the next day in a blanket of brown smoke. rom the sanctuary of the sky we could see the fires burning far beyond the city. The 6-hour flight to Anchorage crossed the Sea of Okhotsk, the Kamchatka Peninsula, and the Bering Sea, providing wonderful views of the wild lands and frigid waters below. ollowing a 3-hour layover in Anchorage, we again boarded our Aleutian 62 <strong>for</strong> the 5-hour flight to San rancisco, arriving there at 8 a.m. Somewhere over southeastern Alaska, we watched the sun rise a second time that same day. It had first risen in Khabarovsk, be<strong>for</strong>e we crossed the International Date Line. It seemed as if we were returning to yesterday, and to our distant past. The Expedition’s arrival back in San rancisco was as emotionally overwhelming as our arrival in Irkutsk had been. Spouses, siblings, and significant others were all there to meet us, some waving American flags, others bearing flowers. The Expedition’s month-long absence had been as hard on those who remained at home as it was <strong>for</strong> those who had made the journey. There were immense looks of love and relief etched on innumerable faces. However, with the happiness of the homecoming, there was an unspoken sadness that often accompanies the completion of such journeys. In our own state of liminality, the members of the Expedition were not here nor there, but somewhere between. or us, the world had become much smaller, and our families much larger. It was terribly exciting, yet confusing, too. I departed the airport com<strong>for</strong>table in the knowledge that the ort Ross ~ Global Village project had moved out of cyberspace and into real space and real time. We had gone to Russia, and we had met the people there, including teachers, students, scientists, artists, poets, dancers, bus drivers, maids, soldiers, veterans, tour guides, cooks, doctors, business men, politicians, ex- cons, fishermen, and farmers. What we found was the people’s moving generosity and a courageous spirit which has remained strong in spite of adversity. The visit moved us, and I suspect that some of us will return to Siberia again. We know that there remains an open road ahead just begging <strong>for</strong> exploration, but <strong>for</strong> now, everyone is happy to be home again. If the journey be a prayer, then home is a song we sing. For More In<strong>for</strong>mation, Visit
21 Advertisements National Preservation Institute Seminars in Historic Preservation & Cultural Resource Management in April & May <strong>1999</strong> Professional training <strong>for</strong> the management, development, and preservation of historic, cultural, and environmental resources. Historical <strong>Archaeology</strong>: An Interdisciplinary Approach (Madison) • Building Consensus in the Project Review Process (Honolulu) • Traditional Cultural Places (Honolulu; Sacramento) • Section 106 (Honolulu; San Francisco)—with guidance on new regulations • Issues in Federal Cultural Resource Compliance (Sacramento) • Cultural Resource Management Plans (San Diego) • Field Conservation <strong>for</strong> Archaeologists (Alexandria) • plus more. Please contact us <strong>for</strong> a seminar schedule. 703.765.0100 info@npi.org www.npi.org P.O. Box 1702. Alexandria. Virginia 22313
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